Sidney Torch

Sidney Torch (born Sidney Torchinsky; 5 June 1908 – 16 July 1990) was a British pianist, cinema organist, conductor, orchestral arranger and a composer of light music. Early life Torch was born of Russian Jewish origin to a Ukrainian father, Morris Torchinsky, and an Estonian mother, Annie, at 27 Tottenham Court Road in St Pancras, London. He learned the rudiments of music quickly from his father, an orchestral trombonist, who used to sit next to fellow trombonist Gustav Holst in such places as the old Holborn Empire. Torch studied piano at the Blackheath Conservatoire in south east London. His gift for memory came to his rescue when he entered an examination room and realised that he had left the compulsory music back at his home in Maida Vale. He thus had no choice but to play from memory; he passed with distinction. This came after a disagreement with the BBC: Torch snapped his baton in half at the end of his last concert. Torch had a reputation as a disciplinarian, according to the singers and musicians he conducted. One such performer described the “crackle” which came from starched shirt cuffs on his swift downbeats. It has been said that singers dreaded “the glare of the Tor